Player ratings with Paul Dowling

So that’s Tuesday nearly wrapped up. Here are some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

A UK promotions company co-owned by former Ireland and Manchester United player Denis Irwin has accumulated profits of almost £600,000 (€670,000) since it was set up in 2014, according to newly filed accounts.

Superstar Rod Stewart paid a warm tribute to the late footballer Liam Miller, at his concert in Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork last night, posting a picture of the former Republic of Ireland, Manchester United and Celtic player on the big screen of his stage.

A number of typo-ridden billboards have been erected in South Africa ahead of an upcoming election, resulting in unexpected international attention for a suburb in the southside of Cork city.

It’s a real game of two halves for Irish football just now.

The parallels are striking. For Liechtenstein in Vaduz almost 23 years ago read Gibraltar in the Victoria Stadium on Saturday.

Swapping the hoops and green shirts of Páirc Uí Chaoimh from earlier in the day for uniform black tie in City Hall later that night, it was quite the parade of football luminaries who took to the stage to pay further tribute to Liam Miller at the gala dinner in his honour last Tuesday.

It took a while but, at 52 years young, Denis Irwin finally earned a unique place in the Irish sporting history books by scoring the first ever association football goal at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Tuesday.

The fallacy about sport is that it belongs to the young. This is not quite true, though the young often feel that they invented their particular pastime, or that it exists for their enjoyment alone.

There will be a full house of 45,000 people in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on September 25.

He wasn’t slow to tell them what was what when Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United were in their pomp and boasted a midfield four of Beckham, Scholes, Keane and Giggs.

Very few of us paid attention when Greg Cunningham’s transfer from Preston to Cardiff City went through in June.

When Roy Keane is in the dugout, can it ever be called a ‘friendly’?

He was remembered as a family man above all else. Remembered for his life off the pitch, rather than on it.

In 1997, Billy and Bridie Miller made the difficult decision to say goodbye to their 15-year-old son Liam, who left Ovens having caught the eye of football scouts across the Irish Sea.

Manchester United stars past and present yesterday stood in silent solidarity at Old Trafford to mark the 60th anniversary of the Munich air disaster.

This is Ireland’s ninth time to be involved in a play-off for the right to participate at a major tournament.

Peter Schmeichel all but scoffs when asked how the current Ireland and Denmark squads compare to his day when the teams drew twice in the qualifying rounds for the 1994 World Cup.

Extra gardaí were on hand but the hordes of Fanta-waving (sugar tax) tangerine-tinted (sun-bed tax) protesters failed to materialise, writes Lise Hand

Larry Ryan pays tribute to Jimmy Magee and remembers his best moments...

Luke Shaw can nail down the role as Manchester United's first-choice left-back if he wants it enough, according to Denis Irwin, one of the club's great full-backs.

If not always the football, then the results continue to flow in the World Cup qualifiers. writes Liam Mackey

Roy Keane says that Gareth Bale will have a tough night in store for him when Wales travel to the Aviva Stadium later this month.

Adaptability. It’s a skill set which doesn’t normally enjoy the glamour and glitz of its cousins Talent, Innovation, and Inspiration.

Investment at the landmark Silversprings Hotel in Cork by new owners Clayton/Dalata who acquired it two years ago as part of a nine-hotel €445m acquisition from the Moran Group will top €5 million by next year, while the hotel’s €3.2m reworked two-storey Events Centre, ballroom and business meeting rooms reopens from tomorrow.

It’s many years since Noel Coward said it, but the longevity of his remark shows how acute he was: “Extraordinary how potent cheap music is.”

When Roy Hodgson was asked recently to contrast the centre-halves England have brought to France (John Stones, Gary Cahill, Chris Smalling) with the choice Sven-Goran Eriksson had at World Cup in 2006 (Sol Campbell, Rio Ferdinand, Jamie Carragher and John Terry), he couldn’t quite bring himself to dispute the gulf in quality.

The Rebel county is set to give the boys in green a huge Euro 2016 send-off at tonight’s international friendly against Belarus in Turner’s Cross.

Manchester United defender Luke Shaw is expected to have a second operation on his broken leg today.

Manchester United defender Luke Shaw is expected to have a second operation on his broken leg on Friday, it is understood.

From sharing Big Macs with David Beckham to preparing young footballers for the pitfalls of life as a pro, Pat McGibbon has taken an interesting career path

There was a time when Liam Miller wondered if hailing from Cork would hold him back and block his path to becoming a Republic of Ireland international.

Technology has placed Premier League stars like Wayne Rooney under a greater scrutiny than their predecessors ever experienced, admits former Manchester United full-back Denis Irwin.

As Denis Irwin waxes lyrical about Seamus Coleman, the thought strikes that no matter how far the Donegal man progresses in football, he’ll still have some job on his hands to be recognised as Ireland’s best ever right full, writes Liam Mackey.

Congrats to Damien Delaney on captaining Crystal Palace on Alan Pardew’s first Premiership game in charge at Crystal Palace. Also his deserving “man of the match” award.

Award-winning Irish graphic artist Will Sliney is hoping to avoid a red card after producing a mural featuring his top 11 Republic of Ireland soccer legends.

Shirts worn for Denis Irwin’s testimonial are going up for sale, says Des O’Sullivan.

Denis Irwin has told Manchester United fans to keep calm and trust in new manager Louis van Gaal.

There will be a lot of fanfare over the coming weeks to mark Gay Byrne’s 80th birthday, which falls in early August, as there has just been plaudits for Bill O’Herlihy, as he stepped away from the anchor seat of RTÉ’s sports department, having steered us through 10 World Cups and 10 Olympic Games on TV. And rightly so.

It hardly carried the glamour or gravitas of an induction into Cooperstown or Springfield, it wasn’t like there was a Larry Bird to welcome his Magic Johnson into this particular Hall of Fame, but there was something particularly pleasing about seeing Ronnie Whelan being honoured at the FAI International Awards on Sunday.

Ryan Giggs has admitted he would be finished now had he ever elected to leave Manchester United.